What are the ways to recover ArcGIS Survey123 data?

Answer

There are cases where ArcGIS Survey123 users lose significant data and data cannot be resubmitted, or resubmitting becomes a time-consuming process. The causes for data loss vary; the most pertinent ones being changes to the survey schema, or data or survey corruption.

This article provides different methods to recover ArcGIS Survey123 data. These methods are ordered by ease of use and the necessity to manually reenter data.

Recover the data from a mobile device

Survey data are stored on the mobile device as a .sqlite database. This database can be copied and edited to aid data recovery. By copying the .sqlite database to a desktop, it is possible to fix the database or manually modify the paths stored in the .sqlite database from the ArcGIS Survey123 field app. Refer to ArcGIS Survey123: Recover data from a mobile device for more information on extracting and fixing, or modifying, the .sqlite database.

Recreate the feature layers in ArcGIS Pro with the .sqlite file

To recover line and polygon features, rebuild them by connecting the .sqlite database to ArcGIS Pro. Refer to ArcGIS Pro: Work with SQLite databases and GeoPackage Files in ArcGIS Pro for more information.

Convert the data to a set of CSV files with a script

A script can be used to convert the survey data stored in the ArcGIS Survey123 field app to a set of CSV files. The script is publicly available on GitHub, and it can be found by clicking here. Once converted, the CSV files can then be brought into ArcGIS Online or ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro, and the spatial data can be created after formatting the coordinates. Refer to How To: Create a polygon from an XY data table for more information.

View the data in an SQLite browser and manually recreate the data

If none of the above solutions work, manually recreate the data by copying them through the .sqlite database. The .sqlite database can be accessed with a database browser such as DB Browser for SQLite.